Anges de Dieu - Les Anges

The place and role of angels in biblical prayer

The Catholic Church recognizes the existence of only three Archangels, or the three mentioned in Scripture: Michael ("Who is like God?"), Gabriel ("The Power of God") and Raphael ("The Doctor of God") ).

This precision is essential, because one could object that in the texts of the past, other archangels were mentioned, as well as the number of sects in the Book of Enoch: Uriel, Raphael, Raguel, Michael, Sariel, Phanuel and Gabriel. The system of the seven archangels is in fact an ancient tradition of Judaic origin.

The Catholic Church, however, found it necessary to stop these arbitrary and fanciful interpretations of texts that did not belong to the canonical Holy Scriptures. In fact, we remind you that all individual traditions must be examined and verified in accordance with what is stated in the canonical Sacred Scripture, which is the only true revelation.

Therefore, regarding the Archangels, it was established in the Middle Ages that the worship and veneration of any of the other Archangels mentioned by the Bible apart from Michele, Gabriele and Raphael was forbidden. Even in the past, in the early Church, great efforts were made to prevent the worship of angels, influenced by heterodox practices and pagan traditions of divine messengers, from leading to a form of idolatry.

We need to make some distinction before we dive into this section.

Those of Catholic background may consider books listing these angels as canon.

- Raphael: A passage from Tobit 12:15-22 indicates that there are seven archangels, including Raphael, who appears to Tobit and Tobit and encourages them to sing praises to God.

- Gabriel: As mentioned above, the scripture does not give him the label of archangel, but we can mention that he makes an appearance to Daniel and to Mary the Mother of Jesus, each time proclaiming news that will affect the future of the Israelite nation.

- Jophiel: From the Jewish and cabalistic tradition, it is often linked to beauty and positivity. No scripture or extracanonical text seems to mention her by name.

- Ariel/Uriel: Although some people have attributed Uriel to several events that occur in the Bible (the angel who guarded the Garden of Eden, the angel who killed the Assyrian army, etc.), an extra book -canonical known as 2 Ezra mentions him (2 Ezra 4:1-8). Uriel presents three impossible riddles to show us how humans cannot understand the ways of God.

- Azrael: Many have referred to Azrael as the Angel of Death during the tenth plague of Egypt, although the Scriptures never mention an explicit name of this angel.

- Chamuel: Again, never mentioned by name in any text, Chamuel is associated with bringing peace.

We are so blessed to be able to talk to God in prayer. God promised us that he would speak to us in various ways. Some might be by the Holy Spirit, by revelation and others believe he speaks to us through various types of angels.